


Muse in the Hood

by praisethewaifu



Category: Love Live! School Idol Project, Love Live! Sunshine!!
Genre: Don't worry 'bout that tho, F/F, This will be junk I am so sorry, Trans Character, Transphobia, characters may be ooc, gangster au, lots of swearing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-21
Updated: 2017-04-21
Packaged: 2018-10-22 05:29:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 17,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10690725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/praisethewaifu/pseuds/praisethewaifu
Summary: A gangster au where everyone is a savage. Honoka and Umi constantly worry about Kotori. Nico's still a little shit. Eli has gold-plated Uzis.Honestly, what could go wrong?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> First chapter is literally just explaining the characters tbh. I'm also not sure what city this is really based in, but don't worry 'bout it

We would all laze around the neighborhood, and everyone knew when we'd come around. Leaving impressions everywhere we went, it was no secret when we came into town. It was on the news, there were warnings about us on the streets. 

We took care of things in the cleanest of ways, sharp and observant. Making sure we didn't leave traces of what we did. 

In our high school years we made sure nobody would forget us, and those days we weren't afraid to do the things we did because we were kids. Shadows weren't important when beating someone up was seen as just us being kids. 

Once three years passed when we all first met, though, it became a career. It was scary, to be out in the world where it was a new danger every day. The cops weren't easy, either. 

Thankfully, Kotori had connections on the inside. Her mother was chief, and Miss Minami wasn't a woman anyone would want to mess with. She had a power that not even the highest-ranked gangster could have. She controlled this city, it was no secret that she had gang connections. 

If she got messed with, we would all grab our pistols and jump into our cars. She was family, after all. 

We get our weapons straight from the mafia via Eli's father. She always has something new, and would flaunt around town in her black Challenger SE with her girl in shotgun. 

Eli's girlfriend, Nozomi, is one of the original girls from high school. Nozomi watches over us all, and she's the backbone to our operations. She spends most of her time with Eli, though, and is a big prankster. 

Despite her friendly, outward appearance, she has a dark past and is known for how quick she can take out a crowd. Her speciality is observation, she can guess future events and attacks from other gangs. 

One of their closest friends is Nico. She on her own takes care of us all, she frequently will cook for us. Even though she is the smallest in the group, she has the most background in hand-to-hand combat. Her agility makes up for her lack in strength. 

Nico has connections to a once-rival gang, A-rise. Kira Tsubasa, the current leader, is now on friendly terms with us. This happened after Nico found out about Tsubasa's mother assassinating Nico's father before she was even born. They are on good terms now, and A-rise and our gang fight side-by-side for many heists. 

We don't typically steal or rob, since we already have a lot of money. The Nishikino family support us with all we need via their daughter, Maki, who is also one of the originals from high school. Maki is filthy rich, her family owning the famous Nishikino hospital. The hospital is another location we protect, Miss Nishikino being a lovely lady. Maki herself work in the hospital as a doctor who will take over the company when her mother steps down. Maki is the one who sells drugs and gets us stacks. Without her we would be broke, no doubt. 

Maki and Nico would fight a lot, but it's mostly bickering. They are a couple, and do well in fights together. They work good because while Nico is good with fighting, Maki knows all the weak points in the body. A perfect match, people call it. 

There is also Rin. If Nico is good in fighting due to agility, Rin is good at fighting because she has endurance and speed. She was the track ace back in high school, and she has yet to disappoint. She's quick, too quick for almost anyone she fights. 

Back in high school she was made fun of a lot, and then her and I met the gang. Her and I are childhood friends, and when she found out about a gang forming at our school, she knew I've always wanted to be in one. She encouraged it, but only because she knew it would benefit us. 

The whole gang knows about her, and they're all quick to defend if someone is to make a snide comment about it. 

Honoka is especially big on defending everyone. The leader of the gang, one of three in the Power Triple, she hated when people would look down on either of us. Even though she has an attention span the size of her side ponytail, she had pride and encouragement that no other leader could compare to. She believed in us from the beginning, she made everything become a reality. 

The Power Triple consists of three of the girls in our gang. Honoka, Kotori, and Umi. Kotori makes our heist clothes, along with some of our regular, everyday clothes. Umi has deadly accuracy on the field, and can catch somebody in the same place she does everyone while they're at full sprint. 

They're called the Power Triple because they're the original three that started it all. Not only that, but if you got caught in a fight that consisted of all three of them, you can bet you're a dead man. 

I'm the most average one of the group. I don't do much, I mostly follow Rin around and support her the best I can. If anything, I would try to bury evidence beside Kotori and Maki. 

We are all quite unique in our own way, we're all so different. I would say that's what makes us all click, since we hit each other's weaknesses. 

Days pass and we are glad of how long we've survived, it's quite the miracle. There's always excitement, but there's also times where we relax. Those are the best times.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eli and her Uzis, man, I'm telling' ya

A beautiful afternoon it is today, a perfect day to just laze around the apartment. Honoka decided to cancel all plans today so we can relax. 

Despite that, as I look around, some of the girls are still working. One in particular caught my attention, so I stood up and walked over to her.   
Wrapping my arms around her from behind, I kiss the tip of her ear. 

"You'll work yourself to death, my love," I whisper, smiling as I stuff my face into her shoulder. 

"Girl, you know I got shit to do. Just because Honoka gave us the day off don't mean I stop." She turns toward me for a moment, shaking her head. "My dad is sending me a brand new, gold-plated Uzi SMG tomorrow and I wanted to clean up my AK." Turning back to her rifle, she swiped a finger across it. 

"Didn't he send one last month?" Her obsession with fancy weapons confuse me, I don't see what's so good about them. What's the difference between a regular Uzi and a golden one? 

"Yeah, but now I'll have two." Picking her AK up and setting it on her gun rack, she leans down and kisses me on the lips. 

"Nozomi, damn, ya' gotta stop harassing Eli about her guns, ya' know how much she loves 'em." I look over to Nico, who's rolling her eyes. "She's ridiculous, but she grew up on that shit." 

I was quick to come up with a response. "Like how you grew up on blow?" In that moment I heard footsteps approach me and a chop on the top of my head. 

"Don't start harassing Nico," scolds Maki. She looks kinda mad, so I decide not to pick a fight with her. 

"Guys, where's Kotori?" Just as I was about to say something, I was interrupted by a disgruntled Umi. She seemed stressed, and nobody wanted to mess with a stressed Umi. "Honoka can't find her." 

Then came in a very stressed Honoka, a five-seven in hand. "Where is she? I lost her, goddamn." A long pause stretched within the room, Honoka rarely freaked out. She was typically positive. "Fuck, I swear if it's the station doin' that shit again-" She didn't get a chance to finish, since Umi came up from behind her and placed a hand over her mouth. 

The five-seven is taken from her by Rin, who stuffs it in the waistband of her shorts. "Honoka, stop freaking out. We'll find Kotori, don't you worry." Rin's attempt at comfort only freaks the ginger girl more. 

"We have to find her! She's lost! What if she gets attacked?" At this point we didn't really know what to do. 

And then someone did. "Don't be an idiot. Shit, you know the station wouldn't put their filthy hands on the chief's daughter." Eli was always the voice of reason. "She's off-limits, Miss Minami would destroy anyone who even looked at Kotori the wrong way." 

Honoka sighed, pushing Umi away. "Fuck, I just don't got time for those copper bitches, y'know? Last time they fucked her up n' shit-" 

Again, she was interrupted. "Hey, remember last time when they got them hands on her?" Rin mentions. "Minami fucked them up." 

Honoka couldn't argue with that. "Yeah, you right." We all mutually agreed with that argument. "Then where she at?" 

In that moment, a phone started ringing. Of course, it happened to be Honoka's. She answered quickly, putting it on speaker. 

"It's Kousaka, who this?" 

"You got a sec?" A familiar voice asks on the line. 

"I've got my hands full, but sure. What you got for me?" It was quiet for a moment, and then there was yelling on the other line. 

Honoka started to look frustrated. "I don't got time for this bullshit, you gonna talk?" 

The person cleared their throat. "Yeah, shit, sorry." There was some rustling and some more yelling. "My boss wants to talk to ya, you good?" 

"Yeah, why not?" Honoka places the phone on the table and yawns. "I got time." 

A more cheery voice is now on the line. "Kousaka, it's been awhile!" The boss rolls her eyes. 

"Get talkin', Takami." Honoka sounds tense, as if she knew where this was going and didn't like it. 

"Hey, I'm not trying to cause any trouble," she states, laughing nervously.

"You already have." 

"What of it? Don't like it?" It almost seemed like she was teasing the ginger. 

"Not really," Honoka responds, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it. "Stop playin' and let's get down to business." 

"I'm not tryin' to fuck with ya, just trying to get your attention." Our boss puffs smoke into the phone as if it was Takami herself. 

"Well, you got it, so tell me what you want and where she is." A laugh was heard, and more shuffling. 

"Again, I don't want trouble, just attention," Takami humored.

"If attention is all ya need, let's meet up," Honoka suggests. There is a long pause before there is a sigh. 

"I'm outside your crib now, homie." It takes less than a second for at least half of us to pull out a weapon. Eli has her AK pointed at the door. 

The boss laughs. "You know my squad 'bout to fuck you up, yeah? It's a real threat to just show up to somebody's crib like that." She grabs the five-seven from Rin and throws her cigarette to the ground. "You got some nerve." 

"Hey, I don't want to fuck with your squad, I just wanna talk." That's the moment when Nico grabs the phone. 

"You 'bout to talk with the AK," she spits, cracking her knuckles. "You know our rep, nobody fuck with us." She motions to Eli, who lets a few of them off. 

"Fuck, man, I'm serious. Hold on." There's some more shuffling. 

"Honoka, calm down." At the sound of Kotori's voice, the boss immediately relaxes and grabs the phone from Nico. 

"Kotori! Where you been?"

"Been chillin," she says. Nico bursts out laughing at that, eventually being forced out of the room by Umi. 

"You know you are a priority! You cannot leave without protection, Kotori! People will take advantage of you!" Umi cuts in, grabbing the phone. "I don't want to scold you, but you could've been hurt." At this point we've all dropped our weapons besides Eli, who only has her AK out because she likes the feeling she has when holding it. 

"I didn't mean to scare you, I just wanted to hang out with Chika." Umi froze at the name, and the atmosphere around us changed. 

"Chika? Why aren't you calling her by street name?" Kotori knew she was caught, judging by the noise of surprise on her part. 

"Uhhh..." There was some shuffling and Chika was now on the line. 

"I'm at your door, open up." Honoka complied, walking over and opening the door. Eli pointed her AK at the opening as it opened up. 

The line went dead and Umi set the phone down. "Kotori!" She ran full sprint toward her, engulfing the girl in a hug. "Don't do that again! You scared Honoka and I!" She hugged Kotori tight, pressing her face into the girl's shoulder. 

The two leaders stared at each other for several moments, not saying a word for what seemed like forever. 

And then Honoka spoke. 

"That was quite the thing you pulled there, that's impressive," she laughed, patting Chika's shoulder. "You got some nerve kidnapping Kotori like that, I'm not even mad." They shake hands, Chika looked really happy. 

"Thanks, man," Chika mutters shyly, looking down. "Uh... No hard feelings, right? I kinda just want to talk?" Takami was really awkward, which was confusing because she wasn't before. 

"No hard feelings," Honoka confirms, cracking her shoulder. "It's aight." 

"I want to make an alliance." She was surely straightforward. "I think it would benefit us both." I sat down on a chair facing them, smirking to myself. Honoka doesn't typically make those kind of calls, Umi does. 

Umi quickly pushes Honoka aside and looks Chika up and down. "How?" Blunt as ever, she was. 

"Well, there's some new girls in town. Saint Snow, ya hear of them?" Chika asks, pulling a cigarette out of her pocket. 

"I haven't," Umi replies, yawning. Chika starts to look nervous at the response. 

"They're a group of two girls who specialize in martial arts, and they certainly don't disappoint." Honoka lights China's cig for her. 

"Martial artists, huh? Well, nothing we haven't dealt with before, move on," Umi says, starting to close the door. Chika slaps her hand on it to stop the movement. 

"Please, listen to me," she begs, pulling out her phone. "Look, check this out." She holds up her phone for us all to see. It shows a red-haired girl on the ground, all bruised up. She seemed to be young, and way too pure to be a gangster. "That's one of ours, she got ambushed by them." 

Seeing that sparked something inside me, and I stood and walked over. I pushed Umi aside, looking at Chika. "What's yours do to deserve it?" I wanted both sides. 

"She did nothing, she was only going to the store to grab some milk for another one of ours." She sighed. "She truly didn't deserve it, Ruby is only in this because she always looked up to gangsters. She doesn't start fights, just ends 'em." 

Looking over at Umi, who looked annoyed, I put my hands up. "Sounds like they need some punishment."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some washi washi shit 'bout to go down


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NSFW my guys  
> Please be wary while reading, there will be hate crime in this chapter

Rolling around in bed, I face Nozomi. She's already looking at me, a gentle smile spread over her features. 

"Are you really going to be fighting Saint Snow? Isn't that a bit much?" I ask, concerned for her safety. She's always jumping into things. 

"I'm planning on it, babe. They're hurting young girls like that out of nowhere. It ain't right." Always the self righteous one. 

"You gotta choose your battles. What if you get hurt?" I voice my concern, but she only shakes her head. 

"I don't care, Saint Snow deserves to get shot." I wrap an arm around her. 

"That's hardcore as fuck," I say, using my other hand to caress her cheek. "You don't fuck around." 

She chuckles, smirking mischievously. "I only fuck around with you, babe." The air in the room changed with the comment, and she used my moment of shock to lean her face closer to mine. "I bet you love watching me get all down and dirty." 

I huff at her teasing, avoiding making eye contact. "You're such a minx, Nozomi, which isn't really surprising since you punish people by groping them." 

Ignoring the comment, she pushes me onto my back and straddles my hips, her hair surrounding our faces. "What? Are you jealous?" She purrs, running her hands down my stomach. I can't help but groan at the touch, quickly grabbing her wrists. 

"Don't start something you can't finish, Nozomi," I warn, despite my hips moving upward at her touch. 

"You seem to want it, Elicchi." She places her hands on the back of my thighs, lifting them so my legs wrap around her waist. "Practically begging for it." It was times like these I wondered why I let her do these things. Then again, I don't really mind it. 

"Fuck, Nozomi..." I grab her ass in both of my hands, grunting when her hips thrust into mine out of surprise. 

"E-Eli..." Nozomi stutters, gripping my shoulders. "Now I want you so bad." She grinds down on me, leaning to connect her lips to my neck. 

"You always want to get in my pants, Nozomi. I need to rest one of these nights," I joke, sliding my hands up her back and into her hair. 

"You rested all day today," she points out, releasing a heavy breath onto my neck. My hairs stood on-end, my body feeling like it's on fire. Breathing her in made it that much more intense. 

One of her hands slid down my side, stopping at my waistband. "What do you want, Elicchi?" It slid back up and under my shirt. When her fingertips hit the underside of my breast, I sat up. She looked down on me, smiling softly. 

"Do you even have to ask? You know exactly what I want," I whisper, cupping her cheek with one hand. She sighs happily, leaning her face forward. I lean in as well, our breaths combining together. 

"You're my sun and moon, Eli," she whispers back before clashing our lips together, the kiss passionate and rough. My hands were all over her, groping her anywhere I can get them on. Her stomach flattens when I slide my hand across it, and I accidentally let out a giggle from it. 

She ignored it and slide her hips upward on my body, seemingly trying to get me to lie down again. Her hands started to get with it as they went flat on my upper chest, attempting to push me over. I didn't budge, though. This made her frustrated. 

Just as she was about to say something the door to our room opened, and we both froze. In the doorway stood a short figure, and both Nozomi and I groaned. 

"Nico, what the fuck-" I started to say, but she interrupted us. 

"Sorry to disturb you guys, but Rin just got attacked," she states, her face one of terribly-hidden panic. This news made both of us jump out of our current position and grab our respective guns. Nozomi grabbed a pistol from the side table and I grabbed my Uzi from under the mattress. 

"Who?" Nozomi asks, her motherly instincts kicking in. Nico frowns at the question.

"Not sure, but Hanayo heard guys shouting at her outside their bedroom window and called for Maki and I." She froze for whatever reason in that moment, then continued. "I think it was harassment." 

Nozomi was already out the door, I followed soon after. When we got in the living room, Rin was sitting on the couch with her head facing down. Hanayo was next to her, seemingly trying to pull herself together for her girlfriend. 

Honoka was pacing the room, Kotori following at the heel and trying to comfort and reason with her. 

"This is the second time this month," she growled to herself, her fists curled at her sides angrily. "She can end up seriously injured, Kotori!" If Honoka was trying to be quiet, she wasn't doing a good job at it. 

Nozomi went over to Rin, who was being looked at by Maki. "Maki, how's she lookin'?" She asks, nervous. 

"Uh..." Maki looks awkward, her face doing this strange expression. "I already checked out most of the damage, there's a lot of bruising." It got really tense in the room at that. There was only a few visible bruises. 

"Where? I don't see much." Maki didn't look like she wanted to say anything, but I don't think she really needed to. 

That's when Rin spoke up. "They kicked me." It was so quiet. It's suffocating. We all knew by the way she was shaking what kind of attack this was. 

"We can help, Rin. We don't want to see you like this," I say gently, placing a hand on her thigh in comfort. She winced, pushing it away. 

Hanayo places an arm around her shoulders, trying her best to help. The tension in the room was becoming thicker by the second while we all waited for Rin to admit what this was. 

Before she could, though, Maki spoke. "She had a lotta bruises around the crotch area." That was all it took for everyone in the room to lose it. We all surrounded Rin, patting her back and giving words of comfort. 

In the middle of it all, Hanayo whispered to Rin in the sweetest of ways. "You're a girl, Rin, don't listen to anything those guys said." Kotori passed her some cheesecake, which she fed to Rin. 

Nozomi went over to Nico, pulling on her sleeve. I followed. 

"Where are the guys now?" She asks, and judging by her expression she was pissed. 

Nico shrugged. "Once I got outside they ran." Nozomi put her gun into the waistband of her pajamas after hearing that, frowning. 

"If I ever found out who did this I'd kill 'em," she states, walking over to Rin. While she did that I started to talk to Nico. 

"How bad was it? Were they really going hard?" Judging by the way Rin has suffered, I knew the answer, but I wanted to hear it from someone who witnessed it. 

"She was on the ground when I found her," she says, pulling out a box of cigs and offering me one. I take her up on the offer, and once it's in my mouth she lights it for me. "They were kickin' her where it counts. Sick fucks." 

I puff smoke out the side of my mouth, letting out a sigh as I do. "Nozomi's really concerned, you know how she is." 

"Yeah," she says sadly. "I think the worst part about this is that if it was anyone else, they wouldn't have done it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mama Nozo ready to fuck a bitch up for hurting her Daughter


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> rinpana for the fluff lover's soul

She sits on the bed, avoiding any contact with me. I think she feels ashamed about what happened, since her hands ran down her skirt shakily. Seeing her like this pains me. 

I knew exactly what kind of people did this, and I know they don't agree with her. It hurts her, emotionally she is exhausted by stuff like this. 

Walking over to her, I kneel down in front of her, rubbing the outside of her legs. "Is there anything I can do, Rin?" I ask, wanting to do anything but nothing.

After a few moments, she nods. "Yeah," she mutters, crossing her legs. 

"What can I do?" Rin deserves the best after what happened. 

"Want to make me feel like a woman tonight?" She asks, motioning to our dresser. I knew what she was asking of me, of course I did. 

Grabbing her hand, I shake my head. "You're already a woman," I murmur, kissing her hand. She smiles a little at that. "I won't do that until you're in the right state of mind." 

Despite being disappointed, Rin nodded. "Okay, Hanayo." Getting up, she looks down on me. "How bad did it look?" At the question I get nervous, not wanting to tell her the severity of it. 

"It's bad," I reply, being blunt about it. I didn't want to lie to her. "You're bruised all over, but it's not really in visible sight, so I guess that's a plus." 

In a moment of self-consciousness, she flattens out her skirt. The action reminds me how hard it must be to be transgender in a gangster lifestyle. 

"You're a girl, Rin, please believe me," I say as I stand up, placing my hands on her shoulders. "Your genitals don't define you." She relaxes at my words, pulling me in for a hug. She breathes me in, her hands shakily crawling up and down my back. The shakiness soon turned to gentle patting. 

"Thank you for being there for me." Her voice cracks, and when she pulls back she has tears falling down her face. 

Placing a hand on her cheek, I smile. "You're my girlfriend and childhood best friend." I grab her hands. "You're who I want to spend the rest of my life with." She picks that moment to kiss me. I kiss back. 

It's gentle and sweet, and I make a point to wrap my arms around her waist because she's told me it makes her feel more like a woman that way. I wanted her to feel happy and accepted in my arms. 

When she pulled away we made eye contact. "Thank you for making me feel accepted." 

With her hands in mine, I gave her another kiss. "You're my life, Rin." That's when she pulled me back in and kissed me hard, cupping my cheeks as if she's afraid I'll disappear. 

I slowly walk her to the bed until the back of her knees hit the edge. Complying, she sits down and looks up at me. 

Taking matters into my own hands, I kneel in front of her and stare into her eyes. "Hey, do you remember when we were kids?" I start, placing a hand on your knee. "When you were still figuring yourself out? You were always scared." I kiss her knee. She nods, confirming she remembered. 

"I remember it well." Patting her knee in comfort, I place my chin on it. 

"And remember when we joined Muse?" Suddenly she looks uncomfortable, but I grab her hands to try to wipe the look off her face. "They invited you with open arms, Honoka was so happy you joined." She pulled her hands away from mine. 

"She was desperate, no gangster ever wants a tranny in their gang," she grits out, starting to stand. Before she could, though, I pushed her onto her back. 

"Rin, stop that," I scold, grabbing her chin in my hand. "Nobody cares. Did you see how concerned everyone was for you? I'm sure that if we knew where those guys were they'd have to catch eight different sets of hands." That made her chuckle a bit. "We can care less about what's in your pants." I smirk. "I certainly don't mind it." 

Rin groans, pushing me away. "You're the worst!" She pouts, but I can tell it's just for show. 

"You thought it was funny," I point out, poking her nose. Finally, she breaks out in a smile and laughs. 

"Okay, fine, it was funny," she admits, shaking her head. "You and your dick jokes."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rin in comforted by dick jokes confirmed 
> 
> Shoutout to Hanayo for being the best girlfriend of all time


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yukiho is lowkey a savage

I was sitting outside on the steps, cigarette in mouth. It was about five in the afternoon, and I always had a smoky break around this time. It didn't take very long before I felt a presence behind me. 

"Honoka," Kotori says, sitting next to me. She sounded a bit tense, as if we were about to talk about some deep shit. 

"Kotori," I say sternly, puffing smoke into the other direction and tossing the cig and then looking at her. "What's up?" She stays quiet for a few seconds, and I had a hunch it was just for dramatic effect. 

She finally sighs. "I'm sorry for just disappearing on you," she apologizes, placing a hand on my shoulder. "I didn't mean to scare you." Sliding the hand to my other shoulder, she pulls me into a hug. I wrap my arms around her waist, patting her back. 

"Shit, Kotori, it's alright." We remained like that for a few minutes, eventually pulling away to look into each other's eyes. "I couldn't stand the thought of you getting hurt." 

"What would you have done if I did get hurt?" She asks, I assume from curiosity. 

"Whoever did it would be a fuckin' dead man," I reply, standing up. "And if I didn't finish 'em, Nishikino hospital would surely help out." It was in that moment I realized how bad that sounded, but it's a feeling I can't really control. If she ain't safe I can't live a happy life. 

"What's on your mind?" She cuts my thoughts short. It almost felt like everything was in slow motion, the way she stared at me, how concerned she looked. I'm not as alone as I used to be, she's living proof of that. 

All at once our memories together all came crashing down on me, I became suffocated by the raw emotions that were thundering through my body. And in the moment I placed a hand on the nape of her neck and pulled her in. Within a second my lips were on hers, right on the steps of the house where everyone can see us. I wouldn't care if the whole world was there watching us, as long as I can feel her. 

As my hand slid to her cheek she started to kiss back with the same passion, her hands going up and down my arms. The action gave me goosebumps. 

She pulled away, and I searched her face for any indications that she was upset about what just happened. I couldn't tell.

"Honoka..." Her voice was small, I could barely hear her. She mumbled something I couldn't hear then pulled me into a hug. The moment was going to end soon, so I took it into my own hands.

"Go inside, alright? Tell Nico to cook up somethin' real nice." When she gets up to oblige I slap her butt. She squeaks and turns to me, a smirk on her lips.

"Save it for the bedroom." The comment leaves me in shock, allowing her to leave before I can respond. 

"So... Was that an invitation or?" I ask myself, standing. I'll probably never know if she was serious or not. 

"What a cute bitch you got yourself." The voice I recognized, so I look at the owner of it, 

"That bitch got a name and I know you know it," I spit back. She only laughed. My attitude seemed to only amuse her if anything, it had no effect. 

"Damn, the hood's changed ya'." She puffs out smoke from her cigar. "I remember when you didn't have it all." It frustrated me, how calm she is. To get under my skin is what she thrives for. 

"I'm not useless anymore," I point out, opening the door to the house. "When you got important shit to talk about, find me." When the door fully opens, Umi is standing in the doorway. 

"Honoka, dinner is being made," she lets me know, glancing over at the visitor. "Oh, hey, Yukiho." She walks over to my sister and they shake hands out of politeness. "I didn't think you'd roll around these parts just yet." Yukiho shrugs at that. 

"I thought I'd come visit and give ya' good news," she says almost excitingly. 

"News?" I butt in, pushing Umi aside. "What news? Your life never changes." She looks offended, but eventually pretends I didn't say it. 

"I just wanna let you know that I finally got with Alisa." Shrugging, she tosses the leftover cigar to the side. "It took awhile, she's kinda shy. Ever since her last guy she's been guarded." We all knew about the last guy she was with. Alisa's ex-boyfriend, currently six feet under. 

"Eli appreciates your work on that, by the way. She's glad you care about her little sister so much." A little hardcore, but Eli would've done so much worse than killing him if she had gotten her hands on him. "That's good, you deserve each other. Where is she?" The atmosphere was much more relaxed now. 

"Doesn't like comin' to these parts, y'know?" She scratches the back of her head sheepishly. "Doesn't dig the whole scene." 

"You get used to it." I remember Umi is next to me and smile at her. "I'll be right in for dinner, set an extra plate up, okay?" She nods and goes on in. 

"Don't take too long, Honoka," she says before shutting the door. My sister and I stare at each other. 

"Dinner?" 

"We should catch up on some things."


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> NozoEli roasting a bowl

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NozoEli are just a couple of ballers

Lighting my bowl, I heave in a breath of marijuana. I hold it for a moment, then puff it out. My body started to feel fuzzy. 

"Elicchi," a familiar voice spoke, arms wrapping around my waist from behind. "Let me have a hit." I light it fat, inhaling some and then quickly handing her the bowl. After she let in a puff, she bent down to kiss the nape of my neck, letting the smoke she exhales flow around me. 

"Nozomi, I thought you said you didn't want to smoke anymore?" I ask, taking the bowl back. She giggled at me. 

"I changed my mind Elicchi, I want to share with you." It's weirdly romantic to smoke a bowl with the one you love. It's also great that she wants to get stoned with me. This is why I love her. 

I take one more hit then empty the burnt contents into a cup next to our bed. It probably reeked in here, and I almost felt conscious of the gang smelling it. Ignoring it, I grab my hidden mason jar under the bed and hand it to Nozomi. 

"Go grind me some, girl," I demand, cleaning my bowl gently. She giggles and goes with it, grabbing my grinder from the bedside table and doing her thing. 

"Oh, I'll grind some alright, babe~" she purrs, a toothy grin making its way on her face. The conclusion that she's a minx isn't so far off, I guess. 

When she finishes and hands me the opened grinder, I start to pack my bowl and make it nice and neat. "You like that loud stuff, babe?" I knew the answer. 

"Your herb ain't the only thing that's loud~" She's a goddamn animal. I take a heavy hit and pass it, which she quickly hops on. 

"You callin' me loud?" The comment deserved criticism. "Girl, you ever hear yourself? You're being hypocritical." She slides a hand to my hip and leans her chest against my arm. 

"I ain't pretendin' to be quiet." She reaches into the bedside table and pulls out some joint paper. "Let's roll one and then figure it out, how that sound?" 

Of course, I caved. I couldn't pass up a fat j-bone. So as I rolled, she was the moral support. Nozomi used to roll fat ones back in the school days. Mad joints, at parties she was the main event. 

Her rolling was so beautiful that people would pay big stacks just to take some. The girl was ballin', and we became the power couple of the city. She loved the attention. 

I grew herb, so we made mad money with her rolling and my growing. It was meant to be, honestly. 

One time one girl thought she could pull a fast one and steal a quarter from us. She still remains missing to this day. I'm still quite proud of her for it. It's what happens when you don't pay up. 

Thinking back on it, it felt almost like a movie. How Nozomi kidnapped her, how she interrogated, the way she hit that bong with what this girl stole. It was impressive, and watching it was almost hot. The girl is long gone at this point, and the bitch had it coming completely. 

"It's not as good as mine, but it'll do." She grabs it and burns the paper at the end, then huffs in a fat puff of marijuana. She's a beast with it, and I dig it. 

I take it from her when she's finished and take a puff myself, breathing it out slowly. "We haven't done this in awhile, I miss it." She nods and takes another puff, then places the joint on the bedside table. 

I was confused for a moment, but then she grabbed me and pulled me in. The kiss was slow, but hard. And two seconds in, she puffed the smoke into my mouth. I definitely missed this.

I push her down onto the bed, getting immediate vertigo on my way down. She giggles and pulls me on top of her. 

"You like when I do that, babe?" It must've been the Ayase in me, but this woman was making me go wild. And hell, I wasn't about to disappoint her. 

This was Nozomi, though. She's a woman of surprises. In two seconds she was on top of me, and her shirt was suddenly gone. My breath becomes shaky, and I barely contain the urge to reach up and grab what I know is mine. I didn't need to, though, since she grabbed my hands and placed them on her bare breasts. 

"I'm gonna blow your mind tonight," she says, her hips grinding down onto mine. Euphoria rushes through my veins, and staring at her is all I have left to do. She's absolutely stunning, and I want to work her till she drops. 

I pull her down, sucking a nipple into my mouth. Her hands are on the back of my head, keeping me in place while her grinding gets rougher and more desperate. 

I lean back for a second, and she halts. "Tell me what you want, baby girl." My hands are already on their way down victory road, and her back is arched and she's gasping my name. 

"Fuck me," she tries demanding, but I pat her bum. 

"How much do you want it?" I ask. 

"A lot," she responds, pulling my hand into her pants. "Please." I decided to serve up. 

I pull her above my head, and to show I'm not fucking around I tear her panties off. She asked for it, so I'm giving it. 

I pull her hips toward my face, and the moment her lower lips make contact with my lips she yelps. 

"Elicchi!" She yells once I stuff my tongue in. I know what she likes at this point. 

"Calm down, I'll do ya' jus' right."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm all for NozoEli getting stoned together tbh


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kotori gets hit on by an officer, and Umi gets rattled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Umi is about to get savage real quick

"I heard she can down twenty shots in one sitting." 

"I heard she can take twenty shots in the chest and still fight." 

"You guys are too concerned about those rumors," says one of the girls, rolling her eyes at her friends. "I care more about the pretty thing with her." It was dangerous; to venture around what you knew wasn't yours. But this woman knew what she wanted, and she was determined to get it. 

And so she went over, sitting at the bar next to a beautiful lady. She looked at the drinks, looked at the lady, and made a decision. 

"Shot of whiskey for the lady and I," she slurs out, motioning to the ashen-haired girl. The bartender nodded, fixing it up. The lady looked over, confused, but went along with it. 

"Hello," she says, and it made the girl melt. She couldn't help but drink the girl in with her eyes. Her voice matched her body, for sure. This small exchange made the bartender become slightly tense. 

"Hey." She made the decision that she absolutely has to take this girl home tonight. She put her hand out. "The name's Shiga Hitomi, but just call me Boss." Oh, did she want this woman to call her as such. 

The girl looked shocked by this a little bit and bit her lip, looking at the menace that she came with. Nervous now, the girl nods respectfully. "My name is Minami Kotori, please call me Minami." Playing hard to get, Hitomi assumed. 

She scooted closer to the girl, trailing a hand around her waist slowly. "So, I take it that you're from around here?" Hitomi not only knew that the girl was from around here, but she knew the girl was too polite to not answer. 

"Yes, down through Otonokizaka." Small hood, but all the ever dangerous to venture through. 

"Any run-in with Muse? I heard they're ruthless," Hitomi comments, trying to hide a smirk. She is well aware of where this girl in from, who wouldn't? 

"You could say that." There was a smirk plastered on Minami's face as well. She seemed to fiddle with her drink instead of actually drinking it, so Hitomi stepped in to see to it that this girl gets fucked up. 

"I ordered that for you, you should drink it." It was clear Minami was uncomfortable with the idea and with any advance made by Hitomi, but Hitomi got what she wanted. She's the boss, after all. 

"I'm not much of a drinker," she whispers, shaking the glass and watching the ice move against it. 

"But I bought it for you." Hitomi, thinking Minami to be rude, took the cup from her and took a sip. She cupped Minami's face with one hand, then pulled her to face her. She giggled, leaning forward to kiss the girl. 

Before she could, she felt a familiar cold metal against her temple. She froze, understanding the situation she was in. Hitomi swallowed the burning liquid, looking to the side. 

"Umi-" Minami started, but knew by the atmosphere that she should remain quiet. At this point the whole bar was watching them. 

"Umi, is it?" Hitomi dares, looking over. "It's rude to butt into a conversation." It wasn't the best thing to say to a trained fighter. 

"I wouldn't-" Kotori started, but Umi cut her off by wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her behind her. 

"What? Too pussy to talk?" Hitomi, despite having a gun pointed at one of the weakest places on her body, stepped closer to the blue-haired woman. It was the wrong move to make on her. 

Hitomi laughed when Umi didn't respond, reaching behind her for Kotori. "If you don't mind, I was actually trying to get some, so-" Before she could react, Umi slid back between the two and punched the girl across the face, causing the woman to fall face-first against the bar. 

Now the barrel of the gun was against the back of her neck, Umi's lips right against the woman's ear. "That wasn't very smart." Hitomi struggled against it, but everyone in the bar knew how this would end. 

"Why are you so protective? It's not like she's your girlfriend or anything." This catches Umi off guard long enough for Hitomi to push her away. "She can make her own decisions." She grabs for Kotori again, and a gunshot goes off. Everyone in the bar panics silently and they hear the scream of Hitomi, who clutches at her hand. It's bleeding out, but she pulls through and looks at Umi. 

"You missed, sweetie. My chest is over a bit." Umi grabs her by the collar and lifts her off the ground, growling in her face. 

"I never miss." She points the gun at her gut, smirking. "I won't kill when you're at a disadvantage." She suddenly drops the gun and kicks it to the side, grabbing the woman's neck in one swift motion. 

"Fuck you." To put the icing on the cake, Hitomi spits in Umi's face. Umi, unaffected, wipes the spit off and smears it on the other girl's face. 

"I'm not desperate enough to let you fuck me." She pulls the woman onto the bar, drags her across and stops at the very end. There was now glass all over the floor, and Kotori dropped a fat stack for the bartender to pay for the damage. Some people have left the bar at this point, some are cheering Umi on. At this point it was no surprise that the Sonoda heiress was asserting her dominance. 

Umi grabbed the glass of whiskey that Hitomi had bought for Kotori and held it up. "You still want to force this on her?" Umi asks, daring the girl to speak. 

She nods, attempting to grab it. "Yes." Umi slams it against her forehead, breaking the glass over her head and punching the girl in the face again. 

Hitomi looks up, blood dripping from her face, and grabs Umi's wrist. "If you're going to kill me, then just do it." She grabs each side of Umi's head and head butts her, rolling off of the bar and getting behind the girl. And suddenly, Umi had a gun pointed to her head. 

"How does it feel to have your own gun at your head?" Hitomi slurs from behind her, a hand trailing over the girl. Umi is disgusted, and Kotori gets easily jealous. 

"You shouldn't use an enemy's weapon," Umi whispers, turning toward the offending woman. 

"And why is that? Do you know how much attention I would get if I just pulled this trigger right now? How famous I'd get?" That fact couldn't be denied, but Umi was determined to see this woman through till the end. 

"Then shoot." Umi was intelligent, knew what she wanted and knew how to get it. Her weapons, while some had flaws, were no exception. So when Hitomi held the weapon to Umi's temple, cocking the weapon, she stood still. Hitomi was suspicious of this, but pulled on through. 

"Any last words?" Hitomi pushes, pressing the gun aggressively into the other girl's skull. 

"Are you hesitating? What about all that fame?" Umi turns to face the barrel, opening her mouth and encasing it around the cold metal. 

Hitomi suddenly remembered Kotori, who was off on the side looking very panicked. She smirked at the girl, turning the both of them to face her. 

"You ready to see your friend blasted to pieces?" She slides the barrel deeper, and the atmosphere in the bar changed. 

"You're cocky," she says, despite the fear still present in her voice. "You haven't even won yet." 

It all happened so fast. Some glass shattered, and something sharp was pressed against Hitomi's back. 

"I was almost late, huh? Shit almost went down," someone slurs behind her, sliding the sharp object across Hitomi's back. 

"Who you reppin', girl?" The voice was almost smooth, the object coming to Hitomi's front. "I would say the feds, but they aren't usually this brutal when it comes to this." 

"The chief can't always sweep up your mistakes," Hitomi hisses, turning quickly and dodging the object to point the gun at the offending person. 

"That's quite bold of you," the woman points out, wiping her forehead. She shoves her hand forward, awaiting a handshake. "The name's Kousaka Honoka, but you could call me boss." She chuckled at her own comment, tossing the glass shard aside. 

"How did you know?" Hitomi plays no games, hops right on the real question. 

In that moment, Kotori heaves a sigh of relief. "You two are unbelievable, I seriously thought she'd give Umi a run for her money." 

"Really?" Umi asks, going over to her. "You know we're ready for everything." She looks at Hitomi. "Especially the amount of bullets in my own weapon." She pats the top of Kotori's head, smiling at the offending woman who had the whole bar staring at her. "I never need more than one shot." 

"You see, Umi-chan had that gun custom-made by Eli's father," Honoka informs, looking at the gun. 

"It's funny because this means you pulled the trigger, and still continued on with your noble and cocky statements despite knowing that the gun wouldn't shoot," Umi points out, her teeth showing now from how much she was smiling. "I'm quite impressed, since you stayed calm and I wasn't even aware of it." 

Honoka decided to speak now. "Once the gun is shot without a bullet in it, a special piece of machinery inside the gun informs me of it." The woman, despite that, still holds the gun to Honoka's head. 

"You're bluffing." 

"I wish I were, it's honestly a ridiculous and very complicated piece of art." Honoka looks down at where the gun is being held and notices the blood dripping from the girl's hand. "That doesn't look too good." 

"You think I care? Pussy ass bitches can't even be real." A click sounds throughout the room, and the statement becomes even more of a reality. 

"It's three against one now, darling. You might want to surrender," Honoka brings to attention, being as cocky as she could be. Hitomi growls. 

"More like two; Kotori couldn't hurt a fly." That comment was met with laughter from both Honoka and Umi, a truly rare occurrence. 

"That's cute," Umi whispers, motioning Kotori forward. "You did want a night with the girl, yeah? Have it." Kotori steps forward, almost floating toward the scene as if she were on cloud nine. This confused Hitomi, so she kept herself on guard. 

Kotori walked in front of the gun, leaning forward. "Frisky, huh?" The voice was so innocent, so cutesy. It was hard to believe what was about to transpire. 

"Yeah, baby~" Hitomi was tired, and wanted to just bring this girl home for the night. "Let's bounce." 

It was fast, the motion of Kotori pulling out a dagger and impaling the other with it. Blood spilled from Hitomi's mouth, groaning in pain. 

"Kotori is a masochist and a sadist." Hitomi's eyes widened as she fell to the floor, grasping at the dagger that was now inside her. "She enjoys every second of any pain inflicted upon her." Kotori's foot slammed down on the woman's jaw. "And she loves inflicting it." 

After all was said and done, Kotori leaned down and grabbed Umi's gun from Hitomi's lifeless body, handing it to the woman and walking out of the bar with her two childhood best friends in tow. 

"You guys really don't have to expose my kinks like that," Kotori scolds, rolling her eyes. "It's sort of embarrassing." 

"Yeah, but you're pretty weird," Honoka says, dodging a hit from her. 

"Let's just get back home, you two. Everyone is probably waiting to hear what happened." They all nodded and headed back to base.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kotori likes pain a lot, and Honoka will forever hold it against her


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Umi tries to stop Honoka from making a bad decision.

The bed was perfectly made when she went into her room, which made her smile. It must’ve been Umi or Kotori who made it for her, despite Umi always complaining about her laziness. Funny how that works. 

She sits atop it, staring down at the fingers that were sifting through the blanket. This is the way the world works, huh? It was all the memories that stung at her in moments like these. She has it good now, but it wasn’t always like this. 

Just thinking of the old days hurt her, but she couldn’t live in the past. It was a tough journey to get where they are today. Yet, she can’t help but have the memories interrupt that happiness. Just for a moment, that is, because just when they started to drift into the worse ones, there was a knock on the door. 

“Umi?” At this point, she knew the knocks of her members. Umi’s was very professional, uptight. “Come on in.” When she saw her, she was surprised to see that she wasn’t pissed off about something. Umi didn’t like to come to my room at night, knowing that I needed sleep. It surprised me. 

“Honoka,” she starts, sitting next to me after closing the door. “Are you alright?” The question got Honoka thinking, she didn’t have a definite answer to it. Was she alright? 

Her phone buzzed next to her, which caused them both to look over. It took Umi only a second the realize what was going on, as Honoka only gets like this when she’s talking to her. 

Umi places her hand on Honoka’s before it could grab the phone. “You need to stop letting her do this to you.” No look given from the ginger could move Umi enough to allow her best friend to destroy herself like this. No way, she would never. 

“I love her,” Honoka says, a hint of desperation in her voice. 

“She’s trying to steal the throne you took so long to make.” Umi lets go of the hand and pats Honoka’s back, sighing. “She knows she affects you like this, don’t give her the satisfaction.” 

“She just wants to see me and talk.” 

“You know that’s not true,” Umi intervenes, shaking her head. “She’s a menace, she’s trying to mess with you.” 

“She still loves me.” Honoka stands, going to her window and opening it. “She’ll be here any minute, so leave.” Umi also stands, walking behind her and placing a hand on her shoulder. 

“Don’t do this,” Umi pleads. What else could she do? She knew this wouldn’t end well, it never did. She wouldn’t let this happen. 

“Get out.” There was a kind of sadness in her friend’s voice, as if she knew what was to come. “I’m busy.” She wasn’t having anything that Umi said. No emotion to it, either. Nothin Umi could do about that. 

So she left, nodding at her childhood best friend, who was about to make a bad decision. Honoka knew herself that this was bad, but her desperation for the touch of her was far too great. 

She heard the creeping outside and called out to the person, who eventually crawled in through her window. They stared at one another for a moment, then the intruder hugged Honoka tightly. “Long time, no see.” 

“Same goes to you,” Honoka says back, rubbing the girl’s back. 

“We need to talk.” 

“I know, Tsubasa,” she whispers, pulling away. “We’ve needed to talk for awhile.” It was silent for a few moments as they looked at one another, a secret fire burning in Honoka’s heart. She wanted to feel Tsubasa again, like she used to. Even if Tsubasa did all those things, so what? She loved her, and that’s truly all that mattered. 

And then she felt lips on hers, and grabbed onto anything that could pull her back to the reality of this. Was Tsubasa kissing her? What was happening? She didn’t care, though, as they were now in a heated kiss. Tsubasa never wasted time, sitting Honoka down onto the bed and pushing her onto her back. 

Honoka groaned, her hands venturing over the revealing clothes of the woman who she used to love. No, that isn’t right. The woman she does love, the woman she wants. The woman she can have. The one claiming her right now. 

When she felt the lips on her neck, she tilted her head back in bliss. She had wanted this forever, she needed the closeness, she wanted to be touched again by somebody she had real feelings for. While she didn’t want to put that on somebody that had done her so much wrong, she couldn’t help it. Tsubasa knew her, she understood her. Yeah, she was giving herself to the girl again. 

She looked down toward the brunette, releasing a shaky breath when she noticed Tsubasa lifting the bottom of her shirt. Was she ready to go there again? She had broken her so long ago, could she really hold that against her? It’s been years. Not that it mattered, though, since Honoka’s shirt was long gone and Tsubasa was far into her breasts that she couldn’t see her face. It felt good. No, it was great, Honoka is feeling so great right now. Tsusbasa never lacked in the bedroom, ever. 

Then her pants disappeared, and Tsubasa was between her legs. She wouldn’t let a noise escape her, but she felt so good. Her ex lover was good with her mouth, her tongue, her fingers. Everything. 

When she reached her peak, she finally let out a gasp, grabbing hold of the back of Tsubasa’s head. She couldn’t stop her hips from moving, she couldn’t prevent the noises she started releasing. 

In that moment, she knew herself to be stuck. Umi was right, she shouldn’t have done this. She shouldn’t have gave in and let Tsubasa back in. This was a mistake, she couldn’t go through this all over again. She wished she’d leave it alone, but her love for Tsubasa won, as they had fallen asleep next to one another that night whispering sweet nothings into each other’s ears. 

It wasn’t until Honoka almost lost consciousness that she realized they never did actually talk.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Muse feels something isn’t right, and then Kira Tsubasa walks in.

Everyone knew. They all got the vibe when Umi walked into the living room the next morning. She didn’t speak, wouldn’t even acknowledge the others in the room. Kotori seemed off as well, but she didn’t show it as much. 

It was when Tsubasa walked out of the leader’s bedroom that everyone understood what was going on. They knew exactly what was throwing off the Power Triple. It didn’t take any of the three to know what Tsubasa was doing, what her intentions are. Of course everyone knew what was going on. 

She sat next to Eli at the dining table, which immediately created a tense atmosphere. It was bold, since Eli was probably the most dangerous of them all. She was the most skilled, she’s killed more people when she was younger than ten than all of Tsubasa’s life. Yet, the girl decided she didn’t care. 

She started eating the food Nico cooked, which thoroughly pissed the small girl off. It was disrespectful to just barge in and do whatever you please. Especially toward them, one of the strongest gangs in Japan. They stayed silent, though, just staring at the woman in disbelief. Then, despite everyone thinking Tsubasa wasn’t completely numb, she spoke. 

“Hey, Eli, can you pass the syrup?” The blonde’s fists clenched, but she breathed out silently but heavily in an attempt at calming the everlasting storm within. 

“Get it yourself,” Eli says, continuing to eat. The brunette had used the wrong name, had called her by something that only somebody close enough could call her. The girl ain’t gang enough to call Eli by her name. Tsubasa sighs at the words, rolling her eyes. 

“Mature,” she comments, being petty enough to kick the blonde under the table. This girl was getting more and more ballsy. Eli and Umi were both about to lose it, but then Honoka came stumbling out of her bedroom and plopping herself next to the annoyance in the room. It took everything in the two women not to attack Tsubasa. 

“Good morning, sweetheart,” Tsubasa purrs, kissing their leader directly on the lips. It was so fake, it was gross. Honoka, though, was blind to this, so in love that she couldn’t realize it. 

Honoka pats Tsubasa’s back, smiling goofily. Umi had to hold back a gag at it. How could Honoka do this again? She had warned her this would be a mess. Deep down, Umi knew that Honoka was aware of what was going on. 

It hurt to see the marks on her. Kotori could see hickeys going down Honoka’s neck and lower. She didn’t want to see it, it hurt her to know that Tsubasa was able to get Honoka in bed so fast. 

“Honoka,” Nozomi says, something of a warning in it. If anyone could knock some sense into her, it was Nozomi. Tsubasa wasn’t a fool, though, she knew all this. Experience is what many would call it. 

“It’s been awhile, Nozomi,” Tsubasa interrupts, putting her hand out for her to shake. Nozomi doesn’t even look at her. She goes back to eating, ignoring the woman. 

Umi and Kotori shared pleading looks, not sure what to do. Tsubasa was kissing Honoka again, her eyes wide open and looking at the two with a smug look. Disrespectful was now an understatement. Umi was ready for war, while Kotori was just plain pissed. 

When they pulled apart, Tsubasa stood and made her way toward Umi and Kotori. She threw a hand out, smiling with thin lips and a foreign look in her eyes. Umi wouldn’t touch her with a ten-foot pole. 

“Hey Umi, Kotori.” She nods at them, waiting for one of them to shake her hand. Instead, Umi flared at her. 

“Don’t call me that,” she says. “It’s Sonoda and Minami to you.” Umi looked at Honoka, a disapproving look in her eyes. “You ain’t gang.” 

“Umi,” Honoka warns, raising an eyebrow. It’s rare that Honoka speaks against one of her childhood friends. She never would raise a hand or her voice to them, but love does crazy things to people. “Be nice.” 

“The bitch gotta earn my respect.” She got up, leaving the room immediately. Kotori stayed behind, frowning at Tsubasa’s hand that was still outstretched. 

“Your friends are all cunts,” she comments, looking at Honoka angrily. “They should be respecting your girlfriend, not bashing on her.” Honoka shrugs her shoulders at this. 

“I can’t control ‘em.” 

“Not even for me?” Tsubasa questions, swaying her hips as she made her way over to the leader. “They deserve some good discipline, right?” 

“They’re my friends.” Honoka seemed annoyed, so Tsubasa kissed her to distract her from it. 

“Put them in their place,” she whispers, smirking out of sight from her. Nozomi heard it and scowled, tapping Eli’s shoulder to warn her. Eli was already on it, glaring at the woman. 

“They’re my friends,” Honoka says again, getting frustrated on the low. That was her girl, though. 

“You really gonna let this bitch command you?” Eli speaks up, standing and stepping in front of her leader. “What’re you doin’, girl? You outta smarten up or she gon’ take advantage of that airhead of yours.” Eli made a point to stroke the uzi in her waistband while she looked at Tsubasa. “I’ll start poppin’ if I gotta.” Tsubasa scoffed, and Honoka stepped up and pushed her friend back. 

“That’s my girl you talking about.” 

“Less of a girl and more of a bitch in heat,” Nico interrupts, stepping in to defend Eli. “Has one night with you and thinks she’s part of the gang.” Nico practically stuffs her face into Tsubasa’s, but their foreheads end up being the only things touching despite the aggression. “You’ll never be in Muse.” She pushes the woman back, and Honoka once again steps between her gang and her girlfriend. 

“Cut it out, guys. Get used to her being around.” Tsubasa looks like she’s just won something, she was that smug. Even with Honoka’s words, none of the gang was convinced this would end well. 

“Talk about a gang of snobby outcasts. No wonder you’re always depressed, Honoka. Your gang doesn’t even trust you.” This caused the most uproar, as Eli and Nico started yelling, both of them reaching for Tsubasa who hid behind their leader. 

Tsubasa hit the floor in a surprising turn of events, which nobody knew the cause for until they looked up and saw a very angry Kotori standing above her. 

“Your bitch ass can get the fuck out of my house, nigga,” she spat, kicking the girl for good measure. Honoka stepped between them and pushed Kotori back. 

“That’s my girl!” She scolds, trying to talk it out. Kotori wasn’t having that, though, as she was already frustrated with the whole situation. 

“Girl better watch herself ‘cause she gon’ get herself shot!” Kotori yells, pushing Honoka back. “Comin’ into my house as if she own the goddamn place! She just got nothing else to do!” When Kotori started speaking that way the gang knew shit was about to go down. “She better back the fuck up!” 

“This ain’t even your house, nigga!” Honoka says, then covers her mouth quickly. Kotori steps back, a look of hurt on her face. Before anything could be said, Umi pulled Kotori away. When did Umi get there? 

“Let’s go, Kotori,” she says, glaring at Honoka. “We aren’t welcome.” Umi grabbed Kotori’s hand and dragged her out of the house, and everyone heard a sniffle from the ashen-haired girl before the door got shut. 

If anyone paid attention to Tsubasa, they’d see the widest smile. 

“Honoka,” Nozomi starts, getting tired of being ignored. “That was some bullshit.” The ginger looked as if she felt regret, then straightened herself. 

“Yeah, well, she should respect my choices.” 

“She cares about you,” Eli adds, backing away from the new couple. “We know how this ended last time.” 

“Tsubasa’s changed.” 

“Bullshit,” says Maki, finally being a part of the conversation. 

“Fuck all y’all, I’ll fuck whoever I want.” Honoka grabs Tsubasa’s hand and lifts her up, motioning her to go into her room. “I’m your leader, respect it.” When she leaves the room everyone looks at one another. 

“She’s back,” says Hanayo timidly, not sure what else to say. 

“Nyeah,” agrees Rin, who grabs her hand. “That’s nyot good.” 

“I’m gonna kill her,” claims Nico, ready to toss hands with anybody. Nico used to deeply respect Tsubasa, but once she tried to tear this gang apart everything changed. She’d idolized this woman during high school. And yet, here they are. 

“Guys, let’s think about this.” Eli motioned them all together, which consisted of them sitting at the dining table. It was very quiet once they settled, and it was hard to break it. 

Yelling started on the other side of the house, which made everyone feel awful. They could’ve stopped this, they could’ve kicked Tsubasa out. It was too late, though, as they heard a loud smack. 

“We can’t let this continue,” Nozomi comments, wanting to march in there but Eli kept her seated. “We need to help her.” 

“We can’t force her to leave Kira.” 

“Honoka’s blood in, blood out. She’ll do anything for the gang.” 

“She’s helplessly in love.” Nozomi scratches the back of her head, sighing. “We need to kill Kira.” 

“Killing isn’t always the answer,” replies Maki, who pretty much went ignored by everyone but Hanayo. 

“It’s my favorite answer,” Eli says with a wink, tapping her uzi once more. 

“There’s nothing we can do. We just have to wait till she realizes what’s going on.” 

“I think she already knows.”


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is a flashback chapter!

_“You’re worthless,” someone whispers in the darkness of night. It was so soft that nobody in a closed room would hear, not a chance of it. “I’m doing this because I’ll make you worth millions.” She bends the other over, patting her back._

_“How is this supposed to help?” The other girl asks, not sure exactly what was going on._

_“Don’t worry about that part, Honoka, just trust me on this.” She says, grabbing the girl’s hand. What was even happening? What was she doing with Honoka?_

_“Tsubasa,” Honoka whispers, gripping the object in front of her with one hand. “I don’t know about this.”_

_“I’m your girlfriend, remember? Just follow my instructions.” She set herself behind her girlfriend, positioning Honoka’s fingers so two of them were sticking upward._

_“Tsubasa-“_

_“Shut up!” Tsubasa yells, then quiets down quickly. She whispers something inaudible, then motions to the object in front of Honoka. “See that? Aim for it.”_

_“What do you mean-“ Then she found out. Tsubasa stuffed the two fingers into Honoka’s mouth, forcing the ginger to puke up everything she had for dinner that night. At first, she struggled against it, but eventually gave in due to Tsubasa’s grip on her._

_How much I wanted to barge in, how much I wanted to kill the woman who claimed to love their leader. It’s me against the world, though. Nothing I say could change the outcome of this._

_When Tsubasa let go, Honoka gagged and let her hand fall on top of the toilet seat. I felt sick just watching it, I didn’t want to see anymore of it. Yet, I couldn’t pull my eyes away from the sickening scene in front of me._

_“See?” Tsubasa says, as if what she did helped Honoka in any way. “You’ll no longer be so fat. Exercise can’t get rid of all the calories you intake from the bread you eat.” It’s awful. I felt guilty for not stepping in._

_“Am I thinner?” Asks Honoka. The clear answer is no, she wasn’t. Honoka is still Honoka-sized. A bit overweight, but not terribly so. Tsubasa, of course, disagreed._

_“Yes!” She hugs the ginger, practically bouncing in her spot next to her. How could Tsubasa do this? “You’ll be perfect if you keep doing this. You’ll be the sexiest gang leader in all of Japan!” I almost released a scoff, but covered my own mouth to stop myself. This was all so fucked up._

_“You think so?” In that moment, Tsubasa turned toward the bathroom door, where she made eye contact with me. A wide smirk spread across her face, which sent many kinds of shivers down my spine._

_“Oh, absolutely,” she purrs, stroking Honoka’s hair while keeping eye contact with me. “I know what’s best for you; remember that.” I stand up, my legs shaking from what I had just witnessed. How could she? We all trusted her, and she’s off doing this to their leader? To Honoka?_

_Just then, Tsubasa stood up. She strutted to the door after whispering something into Honoka’s ear, shutting it behind her. I got up, glaring at the woman who had done such awful and disgusting things. Tsubasa was the first to the punch, though._

_“Don’t,” she says, her smile more mocking than smug now. “You say a word and I’ll kill her.”_

_“You wouldn’t,” I immediately snap back, shocked. “You love her.” Tsubasa only laughed, patting my shoulder with fake friendliness._

_“I do?” The question sent a pang of hurt into my heart. “I’m not here to play house, sweetie. I’m here to get what I want.” I wanted to do something, I wanted to do so much more than just stand there like an idiot and gape at the woman standing in front of me._

_“You won’t get away with this,” I warn, but it was almost empty. There was too much to fear. Too much risk in Honoka’s life that I couldn’t do anything._

_“I can, and I absolutely will.” Tsubasa nods, a lopsided grin replacing the smirk. “She’s so easy.” She decided then to turn toward their shared bedroom and started walking toward it._

_“I’ll kill you,” I say, seeing the phrase as a last resort. What else was there to say? There was no other way out. This was all fucked up._

_“What are you waiting for?” She asks smoothly, raising an eyebrow. “Don’t say things you don’t mean, Kotori.” The tears that streamed down my cheeks were most likely visible now, but I would never let her know it effected me. Ever._

_“I’ll tell Umi.” It was meant to be a threat. Umi is trained in many forms of martial arts and has mastered weapons I couldn’t even name. She was the master of warfare, right after Eli. Umi has it much more personal with Honoka, though. The passion behind what Umi would do to Tsubasa if told would be so inhumane that the gang would actually judge her for it. She’s only a little possessive._

_“You’re bluffing.” At that, she leaves. There’s a tense atmosphere, and I’m more concerned for Honoka than I ever have before. The woman had spoken, though, so I just trudged back to my bedroom and pulled out a bottle under my bed. If I couldn’t face this reality, then I’d blur it._


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is one hell of a chapter, be prepared for this emotional rollercoaster

Hands ran over her hips, her hands got entangled in hair. There was so much movement, so much passion, that they both couldn’t speak. They didn’t want to. It was hard to avoid it, though, as their minds weren’t just on the other. 

It was then that one of the two placed her hand on the other’s shoulder, shaking her head. “I’m sorry,” she whispers, regretful. 

“What’s wrong?” The ashen-haired girl asks, placing a hand on the other’s cheek. 

“Kotori,” says the blue-haired girl. “You know what’s wrong.” 

“We can’t do anything, Umi.” 

“We can!” Umi slams her fists on the bed next to her, sighing. “We can’t ignore it! Kira is trying to get in there and take us down!” Not that it mattered. Honoka seemed to be in deep. 

“Umi...” Kotori gazed over the half naked girl, wondering how it would be if Honoka were there to see this. What would she say? Would she be mad? It probably wouldn’t matter, though, since Honoka’s got Kira now. 

“No, I’m sick of it! Kira is such a cunt! She doesn’t deserve Honoka! Doesn’t deserve the gang!” She leans over the bed, hand sliding across the floor in search of something. She eventually pulled her shirt from the floor, pulling it over her head. “I can’t do this.” Umi gently pushes Kotori away, getting off the bed and walking toward the door. 

“Where are you going?” Kotori asks, sounding slightly scared. Umi has quite the temper, and if you play your cards wrong, she’ll murk you quicker than you can beg her to reconsider. She’s a bit hardcore. It’s one of the reasons she’s so highly respected. 

“I’ll kill her,” she says, opening the door. Kotori jumps up and runs after her, pulling her back into the room. 

“Stop!” 

“No! That bitch is planning shit! She’s trying to take us down!” Umi pushes Kotori away, going for the door again. “I can’t stand to see it! I don’t want to!” She reaches into her jacket that was hanging on the door, patting it before pulling out her pistol. 

“Umi-“ Said girl reached out and grabbed Kotori’s collar, lifting her off the ground. 

“Stop sympathizing with her! I want that nigga dead!” She was pissed, ready to kill or hit at anything in sight. It couldn’t be, though, as that’s her best friend she’s touching. The person she trusts, the last she could rely on. So she dropped her, sighing regretfully. 

“Umi, please listen.” Kotori grabs her hand with both of hers, rubbing it. “We can’t interfere with it, she needs to learn on her own.” It wasn’t the answer Umi was looking for, but eventually Kotori would force her to change her mind on the matter. The thought allowed her to give in this one time. 

“Alright, fine.” She slid the pistol into her pants, grasping Kotori’s hand. “What if something happens?” 

“We have to wait and see. What’s the worst that can happen? Maybe Tsubasa really did change.” Kotori was always the one to pull her back to place, wasn’t she? A beautiful tragedy is what it was. 

“I’m afraid of just that. The worst is what could happen. I know you saw what Kira did before, the pain she put Honoka through.” The memory alone was enough to stop all positive thoughts in her at once, but she wouldn’t let it bring her down. She didn’t want to hold grudges, but what Kira did was beyond repair in her book. 

“I get it,” Kotori whispers, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Let’s go talk to Honoka.” And they go, walking out of the door to the motel they were staying at. They never did return, too upset and stressed out about the current arrangements. How couldn’t they be upset? 

Eventually, they stood in front of the door to their house. The two looked at one another, silently arguing who should knock on the door. Before they had the chance to decide, though, the door opened. Unsurprisingly, the bitch of the house stood on the other side. 

“Oh, you’re back?” Umi was visibly angered at the question. 

“This is our home,” she grinds out, then breathes out and gains her composure. The brunette in front of them didn’t seem to agree. 

“It’s not anymore, this is my home now.” Kotori gets closer to Umi and grips her hand, hiding their conjoined fingers behind her back. It’s the only way she knew to calm the fire within. 

“Bitch,” Umi starts, straightening her back. “This’ll never be your home.” The blue-haired girl moves away from Kotori, pushing passed Tsubasa and going inside the house. Tsubasa, angered by her entry, grabs her wrist and pulls her backward. 

It happened fast, but it didn’t take long for Umi to realize there was a gun poking into her side. She may have hated the woman, but she had to respect the balls she had to attack her in her own home. 

“You’re not welcome,” Tsubasa says, sounding only a little pissed. 

“Where’s Honoka?” Umi ignores the question, not finding it important. Why would she care if Tsubasa thinks she’s not welcome? Honoka is the owner of the house. 

“Leave.” It’s a command that the two girls would ignore. It’s all it took for Umi and quickly turn and grab the girl’s neck, stomping toward the wall next to the open door. Tsubasa’s body hit it with a loud bang, which Umi decided she wanted to hear again and repeated the action by slamming the girl against the wall. 

“I said leave!” Ignoring the girl again, Umi lands a left hook directly to her face. She struggles even more in her grip, but over the years the assassin has gained quite the strength. 

And then Umi was pulled off, someone stepping between the two. “What are you doing?” The ginger asks, motioning to the forming black eye on the girl who was now cowering behind her. 

“Doing you a favor,” Umi replies, pushing her aside and throwing more punches at Tsubasa. She barely got a few in when the sound of a gun getting loaded sounded throughout the place. Everyone froze, staring at Tsubasa as she cocked the pistol, pointing it at Umi. 

“Tsubasa, put it down,” demands Honoka, who looked scared. It was then that she realized what she was up against. Tsubasa had a gun pointed at her childhood friend, Umi looked as if she was ready to kill, and Kotori looked like she was about to have a heart attack. 

“Get the fuck out!” Tsubasa yells, tilting the gun sideways. “Get out!” Umi didn’t bother putting her hands up. No, Umi didn’t care enough to do so. She was ready to die at all times. No attachments when you’re constantly fending for life. 

Umi snapped, rushing forward in an attempt to get the gun from Tsubasa. It felt like everything was slowed down, she couldn’t explain it. The gunshot was loud, the gun had been close to her. It was surprising that she felt nothing, she even ran her hands down her body to find the blood, but came with none. 

Her surroundings, her hearing, her sight, it was all white. She was pushed aside, she didn’t know by who. There were loud footsteps from multiple different people, yelling was going throughout the whole place. 

As Umi fell, her vision blurred. She faced the door, and what she saw had made all the hairs on her body stand on-end. 

Kotori’s mom stood in the doorway, full gear on, leading a team of police on her tail. For a moment, Umi was confused as to why she was here, but the look on her face was the most confusing. She looked terrified, as if she’d just seen something she could never unsee. 

When her hearing returned and her vision cleared, she looked around. The first thing she saw was Miss Minami, who tore through everyone, handing her pistol to one of her men and sliding her shotgun off her shoulder. Why was Minami that mad? 

Umi then heard Honoka, who sounded panicked. “Kotori! Wake up! Kotori!” She turned to look behind her, confused as to why Honoka was yelling Kotori’s name. When she found out why, she realized why Miss Minami looked pissed, and who exactly pushed her to the ground. She knew why Tsubasa, who now looked terrified, was backing away from Miss Minami. 

“Minami? It’s been awhile,” Tsubasa says, dropping her gun and throwing her hands in the air. “How you been?” Miss Minami stopped in place, looking back at her men. She made a consecutive decision in that moment. 

“You’re all dismissed.” They file out immediately, knowing how protective the older woman was of her daughter. The last guy who messed with Kotori is now forty feet under the ocean in pieces. 

Umi finally sits up, crawling over to Kotori and looking down at her. It was a shot in the abdomen, so it was questionable if it’s dangerous or not. 

A moment of understanding was met between her and Miss Minami as they made eye contact. A single nod and Minami stepped back. 

“I won’t hurt you, Kira,” she says, a slight smile making its way onto her face. Tsubasa breathes out a sigh of relief, getting on her knees. 

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to shoot her.” This was going to be the biggest regret of her life, for sure. She knew so because when the rest of the gang showed up, there was silence. 

Eli and Nozomi were having a conversation with their eyes, a dangerous atmosphere surrounding them. It wasn’t going to be good, is all Tsubasa could think. The heartbroken cries of the two childhood friends who now sat on either side of Kotori caused a rift that flows throughout everyone in the room. 

After a few moments, Maki ran over to Kotori’s side and started to assist her, telling the two friends to back up and let her take care of it. All the while, Minami and Kira were still staring at one another, a silent plead and a death sentence going back and forth between the two. 

In the end, Minami just smiled even more and looked at Umi and Honoka who, at this point, were holding each other’s hands and praying for Kotori to come back to them. “Ladies,” Minami says, which gets their attention immediately. “I’ll wait outside.” With that she walks out, shutting the door behind her. It was clear. 

Eli was the first to react, slowly pulling her uzi from her pajama shorts. Nozomi then reached behind Eli and pulled the other out, patting the girl’s back in appreciation as she brought it to herself. 

Honoka and Umi both looked at them, surprised by their fast reactions, and stuck their arms out to stop them. They took a step back, nodding in respect. 

Tsubasa stood, bowing to them. “I’m sorry.” There was already an agreement that a sorry wouldn’t do it. 

“In my house, huh?” Umi cracks her neck to intimidate Tsubasa, who then dropped the innocent act and scoffed. 

“Minami’s gone, I don’t gotta play nice.” A mistake is what everyone else in the room would call it, but Tsubasa ignored all the warning signs and bent down to pick up her discarded pistol. “Let’s dance.” 

In a turn of events, before Umi could go forward and attack, Honoka stepped in between them and spread her arms so Umi couldn’t get around her. 

“What are you doing?” Umi questions, but Honoka doesn’t even look at her to respond. 

“There’s only one punishment for this kind of crime,” she says, clenching her fists. “Go get it.” That’s all that needed to be said for Umi to understand what she was saying. It was clear what needed to be done. And so she left, going for the bedroom. 

As she did, though, Tsubasa cocked her pistol, pointing it at Umi as she headed to where she needed to go. As she let one off, Nico threw a pan from the kitchen in front of it just in time for the bullet to ricochet off of it and land in the couch across the room. Nico threw her hands up in celebration, which was short-lived as the gun was now pointed at Maki. All the blood in her frozen immediately, her breathing stopped and her legs weren’t moving no longer. 

Yet, before Nico could take action, Eli and Nozomi each grabbed an arm of Tsubasa’s and put them to her back. She struggled for a moment, but the two uzis pressing into her back convinced her to get on her knees. 

“Honoka?” Questions Eli, trying to understand what she was thinking. 

“Trust me.” As the words left her mouth, Umi walked into the room. Confident and ready for anything, she strides over to Honoka with a familiar object in her hand. A sheath, one carved out by a Sonoda ancestor. It was truly beautiful on its own, but what it was protecting inside was what was most important. 

Umi grabbed the hilt, pulling out a long, flat blade. Just being in it’s presence sent shivers down Tsubasa’s spine, let alone knowing it was most definitely for her. 

When the katana was in full view of everyone, Umi swung it in one hand to show off, staring directly at Tsubasa, expressionless. She would love to see her suffer. Instead of doing so, though, she handed the katana to Honoka, nodding in respect. 

“She’s all yours.” The atmosphere got that much more intense. Lover against lover. 

“Honoka, please!” Tsubasa begged, struggling in the power couple’s grips. “You’re better than these people! You can save me and we can live happily ever after!” For a moment, it looked like Umi was going to object, but she silently decided to stay quiet and let Honoka fight her own inner demons. 

Before Honoka could take any sort of action, Maki speaks up. “Kotori should be okay, it doesn’t seem like any serious organs were hit, but if she doesn’t seek medical attention soon she’ll suffer from blood loss. I’ve contacted my parents and they’re sending over an ambulance right now.” Honoka doesn’t bother looking at her, knowing that seeing Kotori, unconscious, will make her take action. 

Instead, she swings the katana in a similar way that Umi did, and takes a step closer to Tsubasa. So close they were now, that she took the moment to grab her chin roughly and force her lover’s gaze up. “It’s funny how roles quickly get reversed.” And Umi knew exactly what the reference was. The pain through those words, but the absolute anger and control that seeped through. Umi would never forget the day Kotori finally told her everything, confessed to what was happening behind closed doors. 

“It was for your own good.” That was a mistake, as Umi moved forward and kicked the girl in the side, growling. 

“Dumb bitch! Nobody deserves that kind of treatment!” Nobody else knew. Only the two closest friends knew of the cruel punishments that Tsubasa used to inflict on their childhood friend. So when everyone was sharing confused glances, Umi wasn’t very surprised. The kick, nonetheless, made the girl cough violently, struggling even more against the two girls who kept her captive. 

For a split second, Honoka looked at the ground in front of Tsubasa. Umi was confused by this, almost thought nothing of it. It was when she spoke that Umi became confused and almost annoyed. 

“Let her go.” 

“Honoka, we can’t-“ Eli tries, but Honoka puts a hand up. They take that as an order and released the girl, who pushed them away once she was free. “Honoka...” 

Tsubasa stayed on her knees, though, staring up at her captor, her girlfriend. “I always knew you weren’t that smart.” She grabbed the pistol that was only a few feet from her off the ground, hopping to her feet and pointing it at Honoka. The ginger didn’t put her hands up, didn’t even move to stop the girl. She just stayed, motionless. 

“Yeah? What are you waiting for?” Honoka says, testing her girlfriend. “I’m not afraid.” Tsubasa thought this to be a bluff, but by the bored look and relaxed aura coming from the girl, she was forced to believe it was no lie. Another plan of attack would have to do, was the conclusion she came to. So, she pointed her gun to Umi instead. Immediately Honoka’s features changed. It was like a trigger, and she sprung to attention at the threat. 

“Now do I have your attention?” Tsubasa teased, blowing a kiss to add fuel to the fire. At this point, Honoka had had enough. She was done with playing these games, she was done with Tsubasa always taking advantage of her. When she heard the almost inaudible click of the gun, she sprung forward and did the only thing she could think of. 

It wasn’t easy. When Tsubasa screamed in pain and fell back to the floor, it hurt Honoka, too. That’s the girl she loves, the one she’d die for. Yet, here she was, the reason for Tsubasa having one less limb than she started with. Sort of, that is. Only about half her forearm was gone, chopped off by the katana Honoka had, blood dripping from the extremely sharp blade. Everyone was shocked, especially Tsubasa. She stared at her lost limb, tears going down her face. 

“Damn, Honoka,” says Nozomi, surprised by the suddenness of the attack. 

“What the hell!” Yells Tsubasa, trying to stand but feeling too dizzy to do so. “Honoka! Help!” Just as she spoke, they could all hear the sirens of an ambulance nearing the house. Honoka was afraid. She loved her, of course she did, but she just hurt her. She chopped a limb off as if it were butter. 

It didn’t matter, though, since the door opened and Minami walked back in. When she saw the katana in Honoka’s hand and the lack of a forearm on Tsubasa, she smiled proudly. “Need more time?” The question was mostly meant for Honoka, but Umi had other plans. 

“Yeah, give me a second.” With little to no hesitation, Umi brings the front of her boot and connects in to Tsubasa’s jaw in a raw kick, feeling even more lucky as she remembered she was wearing steel toe boots. “Go fuck yourself.” She looks at Minami, who nodded her approval, and walked toward the older woman. “Alright, all set.” The chief gives another nod and pulls out her handcuffs, mostly for humor since the woman she was going to handcuff only had one wrist. 

The ambulance assistants filed in, loading Kotori on a stretcher. Umi and Honoka followed, Honoka giving one last look as Minami roughly loaded Tsubasa into her squad car. She could no longer feel the same as she did for the brunette. 

“Only one of you can go on the ambulance.” The two childhood friends looked at each other desperately, until Maki stepped out of the house and stood between the ambulance assistants and talking to them for a second or two. Eventually, the man and woman nodded and motioned for both of them to follow. Maki gave them a thumbs up. 

And then it happened. There was a panic, the assistants running around frantically. “We have to use the AED!” The woman rummages quickly through the drawers in the back of the ambulance, frantically searching for the defibrillator. “She’s lost too much blood!” 

Umi and Honoka’s world fell apart as they watched the nurse grab the AED and start the peel the adhesives off of the portable machine. She started yelling at her coworker, telling him to completely strap Kotori down to the bed she was on and keep her in place. The nurse tore Kotori’s shirt open, slapping the adhesives onto her chest and working with the small machine. 

As Kotori’s body jumped from the electrical shocks, Umi and Honoka stared on helplessly, seeing no sign of life left in their childhood best friend.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sheriff Minami is always up to something.

“She had called the station earlier, saying that she was being beaten by her girlfriend,” explains Miss Minami, brows furrowing. “And that there were drugs involved, so I brought the whole squad with me.” She shrugged, looking down at the hospital bed in front of them. “I knew the address, I didn’t know that my daughter would get shot.” Umi placed a hand on Minami’s, feeling empathy for the woman. 

“It’ll be okay, she’s breathing again,” Umi whispers, looking toward Honoka. She was taking it hard, blaming herself for everything. That was her girlfriend that hurt Kotori. Well, ex-girlfriend. Either way, if she had listened to them, her childhood friends and most trustworthy people she’s ever known, Kotori would be okay. 

“Shes in a coma,” Honoka says, voice trembling. Minami looks at her, frowning. 

“It’s not your fault.” She doesn’t want Honoka to throw the blame on herself. “You can’t control the actions of others.” Minami grabs her hand, then Umi’s, and sighs. “Kotori will be okay because of both of you, you’re both very generous.” She looks at their arms, smiling proudly at the two girls she thought as her own. 

“She would do it for us,” Umi says, rubbing her thumb over the cotton ball and bandaid. 

“You have no idea.” Minami let’s them go, turning around. “I’ll leave you to it. If she wakes up, please give me a call.” As she closes the door behind her, Honoka and Umi looked at one another, silent. They haven’t truly had a conversation since they were at the house, they weren’t sure what to say. 

“Are you okay?” Umi was the first to break the silence, placing a hand on Honoka’s shoulder. “You chopped off Kira’s arm. Kotori died. Mentally, are you doing alright?” The answer would be complicated, she knew that much. 

“I... I’m ready to kill for the gang.” She hesitates with it, Umi can’t tell if it’s necessarily true. What is Honoka hiding? “She killed Kotori, she tried killing you.” Tears were welling in her eyes, but she wouldn’t let it bring her down. Her and Umi saved Kotori, it’s all okay now. Besides the fact that Kotori may not wake up, but right now it’s fine. “Kira is a monster. I would’ve killed her if it wasn’t for the want to see her rot in the Nishikino Asylum.” Minami saw to it that once Kira was admitted to the hospital for her injury, she’d be then brought to the Nishikino Asylum for permanent residence per chief’s request. 

Umi sighed, pulling Honoka in for a hug. Honoka presses her face into Umi’s neck, finding comfort in the blue-haired girl’s arms. She always helped. “It’s okay to admit you’re not okay.” The words moved the ginger, but she still has yet to actually move. “You’re always putting on a front for the gang. For once, please admit that you’re not alright so I can make everything better.” When Honoka stepped back to look Umi in the eyes, the girls were speechless. What was there to say? Umi would always be there for her, always. 

So, in a moment of weakness, Honoka cupped Umi’s cheeks and pulled her face forward, kissing her roughly. Umi was quick to respond, cupping Honoka’s cheeks in return and pressing their bodies together. The adrenaline they both felt could save the world, it was so powerful. 

Honoka let her hands venture downward, running them over the other girl’s body. She was starting to get impatient, though, so she started backing Umi up toward the counters at the back of the room. It was covered in different kinds of medical equipment, which frustrated Honoka, so she moved around Umi and slid her arm across the surface, dropping all the equipment onto the floor. She couldn’t bring herself to actually care, her mouth and hand far too busy feeling her best friend who was now hoisted onto the counter. 

In that moment, Umi pulled away, being the last ounce of common sense left. “Kotori is literally in a coma right there.” Honoka understood that, she knew Kotori was in a coma. “People who are in a coma can still hear what’s going on around them.” She had a choice to make. 

“I know.” She started kissing down Umi’s neck, the girl’s head tilting back on instinct. 

“Fuck, Honoka,” she whispers, trying to stay quiet. “If you keep going, I won’t be able to resist.” 

“I hope she hears.” Honoka pulls her hips forward, licking her lips. “It’ll give her something to think about.” She started tearing at the blue-haired girl’s clothes, getting excited at the thought of getting into Umi’s pants after years of wanting to. 

Then a loud beeping came from the machine attached to Kotori, and they parted. When they found it to be her life machine, and that it had flatlined, Honoka called for nurses and was starting to panic. The two ran to put their clothes back on.

Minami stared on as nurses rushed in to bring the girl back to. They made eye contact, as if the older woman knew something was going on. She motioned the girls to follow, and at first they didn’t want to leave Kotori’s side. Eventually, though, Minami places a hand on her pistol and they followed willingly. Minami never played games, and Honoka’s heard far too many stories of people not complying to her. 

When they reached a highly restricted area of the hospital, she knew where they were heading. She wasn’t exactly ready to confront Tsubasa just yet, after chopping her arm off and all. She had to do it at some point, though. 

They stood outside of a heavy, metal door. Minami looked at Honoka, placing a hand on her shoulder. “She’s been asking for you, this is your last chance of closure.” She knew of it, of course. Kira could only want one thing, and that’s to get the fuck out of here. Honoka, for once, will not indulge it. No, Kira is lucky she isn’t dead. 

When Minami opened the door, Tsubasa was revealed sitting on a shitty, small, roll-out futon on the ground. The swinging of the door caught her attention, so she looked over. When she saw Honoka, the leader of Muse, the one who took off half her arm, she froze. 

Umi took the time to look around, noticing the room was cushioned for Kira’s protection. And her she was hoping Kira would kill herself in this cell of a room. 

“We’ll wait out here,” Minami says, pushing Honoka into the room. Umi immediately started going in, but Minami grabbed her arm and shook her head. This was something Honoka had to do on her own. 

“Kira,” Honoka starts once the door is shut. She never looked up, didn’t even acknowledge the other girl in the room. “You wanted to see me?” Seeing the bandages going up the girl’s arm made her feel things, made her feel guilty and empty all at once. It couldn’t be helped. “I’m sorry about your arm.” It was sympathy. It must suck not to have an arm. 

Tsubasa stood, walking over to Honoka. Her stance was tense, but also relaxed as if this was familiar to her. Something felt weird, but before Honoka could put a name to it, Tsubasa lunged at her and pressed her against the door in a moment of anger. 

“You wanna apologize for ruining me fucking life? Fuck you! You’re trying to lock me up!” Tsubasa let a right hook loose to the other’s left eye, causing her to cry out in pain and cover the left side of her face. “Fuck you! Fucking cunt!” An undercut to the stomach. Honoka tried curling over, but Tsubasa pinned one of her wrists over her head. “I would fucking kill you if I could.” 

Honoka couldn’t hurt Tsubasa, the memory of her chopping the girl’s arm off playing through her mind. Not that the decision to fight back would matter, since there was banging on the other side of the door and Umi’s voice can clearly be heard. 

“You don’t have much longer,” says Honoka, the door struggling between the strength of Umi and Tsubasa. To leave the greatest impression, she knew exactly what to do. 

Tsubasa’s lips crashed onto hers, moving in passion as her hands roamed the other’s sides. Honoka stilled, wishing it to be over, not wanting to do anything but go back to Kotori and settle everything. Why did Minami take her away from Kotori? She was dying! She’d be alright, otherwise Minami wouldn’t have dragged her away. 

Finally, after what seemed like hours, a hand sprung out from behind the door and grabbed Tsubasa’s wrist. “Let her go!” Umi got in and pushed Tsubasa, pulling out a switchblade from her boot. “Don’t fucking move!” She reaches back to grab Honoka’s hand, squeezing it in comfort. 

“Came to save your girlfriend? Or is that Kotori? I can’t tell anymore,” Kira says, smirking. It was supposed to mock Umi, but she wasn’t that offended. Actually, it seemed to help her reach clarity on what she wanted with her childhood friends. 

She kneels, tapping Tsubasa’s knee. “An eye for an eye, right?” Umi uses her left hand, her right had the knife in it, to punch the girl in the face. She was furious, she didn’t like people messing with her friends. Which is why she didn’t think twice when her own hands wrapped themselves around Tsubasa’s throat. The girl’s hands gripped hers, trying to pry them off. 

At first, Honoka stepped forward to stop Umi. Then, as her eyes met Kira’s, she froze. The desperation in her eyes made her feel anything but scared for the girl. No, she enjoyed the fact that the woman who had hurt her is now going to suffer. 

She left, head faced toward the ground. Why should she care? The brunette didn’t deserve her sympathy. When Umi came back out, she knew the woman didn’t kill Kira. No, she knew better. It was okay, they were okay, and soon enough, Kotori will be okay. The thought made it that much easier to stand in front of the room she was lying in, sleeping. 

“Why’d you bring us to Kira when Kotori’s machine went off?” Honoka asks, confused as to what Minami’s intentions are. Umi remains silent, not commenting. 

“She told you something I couldn’t dare bring up myself,” she says, motioning to Kotori’s room. “Makes you think how important she is to you, right?” She smirked at her own comment, finding the shocked faces of her daughter’s childhood friends hilarious and endearing. 

She walks away before they can respond, waving them goodbye. Minami always had a way with words. Although, they didn’t need to be told that when Kotori woke up they had to talk.

**Author's Note:**

> If there's any mistakes please let me know


End file.
